[REVIEW] Neffos N1 – If 18:9 Display is Not Your Things

TP-Link is the world’s number one provider of consumer WiFi networking devices and they even have a smartphone division by the name Neffos. It has been officially made the appearance here in Malaysia since three years ago and recently they launched its first dual-camera smartphone, Neffos N1.

The mid-range or budget mid-range smartphones are the blooming markets which Neffos is in the right direction to make their brand accessible by the mass. So let’s find out in our review of the Neffos N1

What’s in the box

• Neffos N1
• Charger Brick
• USB Type-C Cable
• Earphones & Extra Ear Tips
• Tempered Glass Protector
• SIM Ejector Tool
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Notice
• Safety Notice

I was surprised they throw in a free Tempered Glass Protector instead bundling with a jelly case like others mid-range smartphone.

Design

A quick glance, the Neffos N1 has a lot of familiar design with the HUAWEI P10. The top part of the camera windows for the dual rear camera and a fingerprint scanner on the rear.

To be honest, we love the HUAWEI P10 design and the Neffos N1 has it. It has a solid metal body and matte finish that feel premium in touch. We don’t have to worry breaking any glasses on the back.

The design is pretty “conventional” featuring a 16:9 aspect ratio display with huge top and bottom chin bezels. The power button is on the right side where the volume rocker and an alert slider located on the left. The alert slider allows you to change to ring or vibration mode with just a slide ~just like the Apple iPhone~

There are three capacitive navigation buttons below the screen and the “Back” and “Recent” can be swapped to your preference.

3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port, and speaker grill are at the bottom of the device.

Display

It sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, it’s sharp and bright. No complaint here for a IPS display mid-range smartphone

Camera

This is the first dual-camera setup by Neffos, equipped with 12-megapixels RGB sensor plus a 12-megapixel monochrome camera sensor. Both of the sensors uses SONY IMX386 with f/2.0 aperture lens. The setup is pretty much the same as the HUAWEI camera uses the monochrome sensor to capture more details at the same time works as depth-sensing to create more accurate Bokeh effect.

The images quality are surprisingly good and have a lot of details but the processing very slow and may lead to shakiness image. Colors are vivid and high contrast. Noises are pretty well managed.

The software bokeh is far from perfect. The blurring outline is not accurate but we still can adjust the blurring effect after taken the shot to make it less artificial.

Check out the sample photos taken with the Neffos N1 without any post-processing;
(click on the image for high-resolution viewing)



Performance & NFUI 7.0

Under the hood is a MediaTek MTK6757CD (Helio P25) processor mated with 4GB of RAM and 64GB onboard storage. The performance was good and able to handle most of the daily tasks easily. In terms of gaming, the Mali-T880 cores are pretty good and able to run PUBG Mobile and NFS smoothly with medium settings.

Based on AnTuTu benchmark tests, the N1 able to score 80,490 points which scored higher than the Snapdragon 625 and 652 powered devices.

The N1 runs on their own skin, NFUI based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. There is no app drawer and looks quite similar to HUAWEI EMUI. The interface is quite clean and doesn’t have much bloatware.

In the NFUI 7.0, it comes with App Cloner that allows you to login to two different accounts with one app and the supported apps are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

It also has this Smart WLAN app that makes your phone to work like a WiFi Extender to improve the WiFi connection range which is something unique and useful. Afterall TP-Link is well-known with such technology.

Battery

The device packed with 3,260 mAh battery with fast charging supported at 18W. It able to complete a flat battery to 100% under 90 minutes with the provider charger brick.

Battery life is not that shabby, it able to give me around 4 hours of SOT with heavy usages.

Verdict

I can’t deny the Neffos N1’s built is pretty solid, great camera and surprisingly good performance for a mid-ranger.

The Neffos N1 is retailing at RM 1,099 and it could be a good buy a few months back. With more new mid-range smartphones introduced ranging similar price, the Neffos N1 is stumbling block. The features and design are pretty outdated with more standard 18:9 FullView display and also more power efficient mid-range SoC like Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, MediaTek P60 and etc which based on 12 or 14 nm process.

• Design & Built – 8/10
• Display – 7/10
• Camera – 8/10
• Performance – 8/10
• Battery – 7/10
• Value – 6/10

Overall – 7.3/10

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